The present invention is a motion and position sensor that can be used as an electronic drum, much like an electronic keyboard is used with a musical synthesizer. The present invention can also be used for inputting one-dimensional, two-dimensional or three-dimensional data points into a computer or any other system.
The present invention uses a capacitive two-dimensional tablet as a position digitizer. Examples of other positional digitizers and capacitive two dimensional tablets are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,705,919 (Dhawan), U.S. Pat. No. 3,999,012 (Dym), U.S. Pat. No. 4,087,625 (Dym et al.), and U.S. Pat. No. 4,659,874 (Landmeier). An earlier patent by the present inventor concerning a capacitive, two-dimensional tablet and position digitizer is U.S. Pat. No. 4,980,519 (Mathews), which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety as background information.
Objects of the present invention include providing improved uniformity in the accuracy over the X-Y-Z space in which a positioning member is moved, providing an antenna that allows for a position to be efficiently determined based on measured capacitances, and providing an antenna (i.e., capacitive tablet) that is readily fabricated on a two sided printed circuit board.
Another object of the present invention is to accurately detect the X, Y position of one or more batons or styluses, without regard to the strength of the signal emitted by the batons or styluses.